Banbury My Heart At Wounded MANE

The MANE conference in Providence, Rhode Island kicked off on Friday. The Mid-Atlantic Northeast Artisan Coffee Conference brings together industry professionals for a weekend of talks, throw-downs and cocktail hours.

The MANEACC is described by some as the single most important indie coffee event in North America. “Best darn coffee event in America today,” Spro Coffee’s Jay Caragay tweeted Friday @onocoffee.

A lovely dispatch just showed up from Sprudge pal Matt Banbury, of Joe NYC.

Saturday so far.

Training to be a USBC Champion:

Gwilym, Trevor, Phillip, Mr Streetman all had simultaneous flashbacks to their time in the trenches. Grievances and concerns were aired by perspective competitors. Humorous stories and training tidbits. Informative, inspirational and somewhat unnerving.

The two broke down and diagrammed the 2 major systems inside an espresso machine, highlighting what breaks with the most frequency and what steps shop owners should take to keep things rolling. The machine whisperers kept the sessions ticking along and effective while personifying valves and wires through the employ of various humorous voices. Tales of woe and hilarity were generously peppered throughout the 3 hours.

Tonight brews and brew downs. Antics will be plentiful, if last night was any indicator.

Too bad Sprudge couldn’t make it. Its been a really great coffee event.